Alex Heizer

May 31, 2011 Comments | 13 notes | Text

Character Drawing Tips for Beginning Artists

When drawing characters, you should always follow a regular procedure. This gives your work a consistent quality and predictable results. A lot of time I hear from beginning artists “This one drawing I did rocked! I wish I could make them that good EVERY time!” The secret to making them rock every time is to draw them consistently each time. Even if at first all of them don’t rock, but they are at the same level, once you get them all on the same level you can work on making them all better.

Sometimes, you’ll be able to make something that’s way above your other work because you’ve gotten into the zone on that one. Another benefit to having a regular process when you work is that because you have a standard working method, you can concentrate on the actual art and get into the zone quicker and easier.

I cover a lot of the basics of actually drawing a character in my tutorial Drawing a Manga Figure, so I won’t go over them here. These are some tips to improve your characters once you have the basics down from that tutorial. So check it out first, if you need to!

First, block in the basic gesture and begin building the forms. Pick a body part to always begin with. I always begin with the eyes, since they are the most expressive part of the human body, but find what works for you. Drawing the eyes sets the entire mood of the character, and can determine the attitude and pose of the person. Make sure to include any props which will affect the pose, such as furniture or, in this case, his naginata.

Sketch in all of the forms, paying attention to the volume, foreshortening, angles and center of gravity of the figure. Drawing the raw forms without clothes or secondary props makes you focus on the important details, like getting the correct proportions.

Once the basic figure is completed, begin adding the clothes. Sketch all body parts and clothes completely, as though the body parts in front of them are transparent. This helps you get a solid rendering of all objects, and makes all of the lines line-up on both sides of any foreground objects!

When inking, pay attention to the black areas, to ensure the entire drawing is balanced, visually.

When inking large areas, make an X inside the areas to be filled. This makes it easier to see which areas need filling and which are to be left white.